What Is Holotropic Breathwork and How Can It Help You Reconnect to Yourself?

Ana Lilia
2 days ago
4 min read

Sacred Lessons Men's Healing Circle in LA

Come home to your breath. Come home to yourself.

If you’ve been feeling off—anxious, emotionally heavy, disconnected from your body or purpose—know this: you’re not broken. But your nervous system might be asking for a reset.

You might be carrying more than you realize. Tension that’s been building. Grief that’s lingered too long. A loop of overthinking that won’t slow down. When talk therapy and traditional tools don’t fully land, it might be time to go deeper—into your body, into your breath.

This is where holotropic breathwork comes in.

What is Holotropic Breathwork?

Holotropic breathwork is a powerful form of conscious breathing that helps you access expanded states of awareness and deep emotional release. It was originally developed by psychiatrist Dr. Stanislav Grof as a therapeutic tool to help people explore their inner landscapes and process unresolved emotions without relying solely on words or analysis.

But the truth is that you don’t have to understand all the theory to feel the shift.

This practice uses a specific breathing rhythm—deeper, faster, and more intentional than everyday breath—to gently guide you out of your thinking mind and into your body. Into the places you may have disconnected from. Into the emotions you’ve been holding onto.

In a safe and supportive space, holotropic breathwork allows energy and emotion to move through you, instead of staying stuck inside you.

Breathwork vs. Holotropic Breathwork: What’s the Difference?

Breathwork is an incredible tool for healing, calming the nervous system, releasing emotions, and reconnecting with yourself. There are many forms of breathwork and they all have value.

Holotropic breathwork is a very specific style within the wider world of breathwork. It’s more intense, more immersive, and often more emotionally activating than a typical breath session.

Here’s what makes it different:

Intensity & Intention: Most breathwork is meant to calm or regulate the nervous system. Holotropic breathwork is designed to take you on a deeper inward journey, helping you access and process unhealed emotions, trauma, or limiting beliefs.
Breathing Pattern: While many general breathwork styles are slow and balanced, holotropic breathwork uses a continuous, faster-paced circular breath (often through the mouth). This style bypasses the thinking mind and activates the subconscious body—where unprocessed emotions often live.
Emotional Experience: A gentle breathwork session might leave you feeling relaxed. Holotropic breathwork might leave you feeling liberated. It’s not unusual to cry, laugh, feel tingling, release stuck energy, or even receive intuitive messages or visualizations.
Facilitated & Supported: Holotropic breathwork is best done in a safe, guided space with someone who knows how to hold what might arise. In my private sessions, you’re supported every step of the way with grounding practices, intuitive insight, sound healing, and energy work.

Holotropic breathwork is for you when you’re ready to move beyond coping—and into clearing, healing, and reconnecting.

It’s Not Just About the Breath—It’s About What You’re Ready to Release

People often come into a session thinking they just need to relax. But what happens in the breath is so much more than relaxation—it’s transformation.

Maybe you feel tears rising unexpectedly. Or a memory surfaces that you hadn’t thought about in years. Maybe your hands tingle or your chest opens in a way it hasn’t in a long time. There’s no “right” way to experience breathwork—only your way.

Some clients say it feels like a deep emotional detox. Others leave feeling clearer, calmer, more grounded. Many say they feel like themselves again—for the first time in a long time.

Why Holotropic Breathwork Might Be Exactly What You Need Right Now

If you’ve tried meditation and found it hard to sit still…

If you’ve talked about your stress but still feel it in your body…

If you’re longing for clarity, release, or just to feel something again…

Holotropic breathwork might be the doorway back to yourself.

Because this isn’t about forcing anything. It’s about creating space for what’s already inside of you to come to the surface—so it can be seen, felt, and finally let go.

What Happens During a Private Session?

Every private breathwork session with me is tailored to your energy and your intentions.

Yes, we’ll work with the breath. But we’ll also work with your nervous system, your subtle energy, your soul.

Your session may include:

Breathwork for emotional release, nervous system regulation, and embodied healing
Chakra alignment and Reiki to support energetic balance and clear blocks
Clairvoyant guidance to offer insights and spiritual clarity
Sound healing to help you integrate and ground after the breath

This is not a one-size-fits-all session. It’s a space where you’re met fully, exactly as you are.

Real Shifts, Tangible Relief

Clients often share that breathwork helped them:

Move through long-held grief
Calm anxiety without medication
Release trauma gently, without having to relive it
Sleep more deeply and wake up feeling rested
Reconnect to their intuition and creative spark
Make decisions from a place of grounded clarity

This work is sacred. And it’s also deeply practical. You don’t need to be “spiritual” to benefit from it. You just need to be human. And willing to breathe.

You Deserve to Feel Like You Again

It’s easy to lose touch with yourself when life feels overwhelming. But the path back doesn’t have to be complicated.

You don’t need to fix yourself. You just need to reconnect—with your body, with your truth, with your breath.

Whether you’re navigating a transition, carrying old wounds, or simply ready to feel more like yourself again, I invite you to experience the healing power of holotropic breathwork.

You don’t have to do this alone.

Let’s breathe together.